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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Kashmir's Eternal Wait For The Leader

Kashmir is remembering Maqbool Bhat, the founding leader of the Kashmir Movement who was hanged by Indian authorities in Tihar Jail, under controversial circumstances on 11 February 1984 and buried there only. Ever since people of Kashmir have been demanding the return of the mortal remains of their Leader but Indian authorities seem to be so afraid of what Bhat stood for that they can't even afford his dead body to leave Tihar Jail, thus making him an eternal prisoner of Indian Democracy.

Kashmir has transformed from a solvable dispute into a sort of Hilbert's Problem. For the achievement of this feat the credit must be given to the Leaders (Indian, Pakistani & Kashmiri). The dilemma of the forgotten conflict ( Kashmir) is that it is one of the least represented conflicts and yet every Tom, Dick, Harry presents himself as the well wisher of the godforsaken people of Kashmir. With time the three parties of the conflict have added many sub groups and each group having its own point of view of the conflict. Thus there no more are only three parties to conflict (in a micro sense), this has only complicated the issue.

From time to time, need for unification of Kashmiri Leadership has been felt. And on days like today (Maqbool Bhat Day) the topic of Kashmiri Leadership becomes talk of the town. People of Kashmir know the importance and value of leadership, but still Kashmir is divided, Kashmiri Leadership is divided. After Shaikh Abdullah Kashmir has not seen a Leader who could unify people behind him like he did, people followed him with an unwavering belief (what he did with that belief, lets not discuss it right now). Since then Kashmir is waiting for its leader.

Why has the wait been eternal? For that, in addition to socio-political, the mental (Psychological) status of Kashmiri's needs to be into account. The people of Kashmir have seen some great betrayals. Many a times the hopes of the people have been raised sky high only to be smashed. These betrayals have made people apprehensive of the every person who presents himself as their Savior. Kashmiri's have evolved to believe that for them to survive they have to trust none. Such an environment put extra pressure on the genuine people and at times the pressure & scrutiny is so intense that people find it feasible to bail out mid way rather than carry on. Public seems to be only waiting for any flimsy issue to raise it head and it is good enough reason for them declare him/her a traitor. So under such condition; where people are afraid of another betrayal, another sellout, the wait is meant to be eternal unless for any divine intervention!

About Me

I used to be a management professional. Now a day’s am juggling between the roles of a want to be entrepreneur, at times a teacher and at least once in a weak pretend being a writer (Write a weekly Column for The Kashmir Monitor". But am always a student and a wanderer, on the lookout for a good teacher. This blog is me trying to present a different view point, at same time has to be truth. You can agree or not, but do think on your own, decide on your own. Most of my posts are related to Kashmir, it being my motherland. If you are one of those people who depend on mainstream media for everything, well you might not like this. When you talk about Kashmir one can't exclude India or Pakistan from the discussion, no matter how much you want to do away with them!!!